The Enchanted Room
by Caithyra
Summary: Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. A rivalry that's lasted a millennium. A book, just as ancient, mentions the Room of Requirement and hints at its purpose and origins. Then there's Lilya Moon, who just wants everyone to get along.
1. Chapter I

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and related stuff belongs to JK Rowling, WB and other millionaires/billionaires. Whatever you don't recognise is mine._

**The Enchanted Room**

**Chapter I**

**The Shop of Sweet Scents**

Diagon Alley, arguably the busiest wizarding street in the United Kingdom, had its upsides and downsides just like any other overcrowded street. The upsides being a concentration of useful shops for the magically gifted, the downsides being the open black market in Knockturn Alley.

In the junction where these two met, is a tall, old corner building stood. It had obviously been a home of some importance, and had been updated through the years, judging by the Victorian and Gothic details among the ornate carvings.

A heavy mixture of scents always hung around this place. Coffee, tobacco, perfumes, teas, incenses and aromatic oils were all among the displayed goods in the window framed by delicate lace curtains.

The inside was both richly and delicately furnished, obviously the outcome of two different minds. It had also been cut in two, with one area being the main shop, where carved shelves held the merchandise and a front desk with a copper and wood cash register. The other half was just as dominated by a large fireplace, and where a low sofa running the length of the display window, a wooden table in front of it with chairs on the other side, as well as four small, round tables with belonging chairs.

Welcome to _Moon's Sensory_.

One of the owners, a tall lady of obvious veela heritage, was busy with changing the flowers on the mantelpiece. Her wand sparkled as dead tulips were replaced by bright, orange roses.

The other owner, a man with sideburns and less prominent veela heritage, was manning the cash register, and was currently bagging some aromatic lotion for a rich-dressed lady.

They were the Moons, Lorelei and Auberon Moon to be exact. Once having been chased from England during the war for being muggle-sympathising pure-bloods, they returned and established a highly successful shop.

Lorelei took a step back and admired her handiwork when the flames within the fireplace turned green. She took another step back when a man dressed in rags suddenly appeared.

"Stephen!" Lorelei's melodious voice was castigating as the bearded man spread ashes all over her newly cleaned floors.

"Sorry, ma'am," Stephen answered in a gruff voice, his cheeks turning red as they always did whenever Lorelei chided him. "Ye don' 'appen ta 'ave my tobacco in stock?"

With a wave of Lorelei's wand, the ashes disappeared from both floor and man. Stephen seemed oddly disgruntled upon rediscovering the indigo colour of his scarf.

"Of course we have it in stock, we never seem to know when you'll drop by," Lorelei answered as she pocketed the wand.

Stephen's smile was yellow and missing several teeth. "G'od, g'od! Ye always take care o' me."

"Just speak with Auberon and he should be able to help you," Lorelei shooed him into the shop-half.

Stephen promptly pulled out his pipe, possibly his most expensive possession, judging by the expert carvings and shape. With it prepared, he approached Auberon.

"Back so soon, Stephen?" Auberon was already filling a back of Stephen's favourite mixture.

"Well, ask where's th' business an' ye'll fin' me." Stephen shrugged. "'Eard tha' 'ere's somethin' big 'round these parts."

"Nothing too dangerous, I hope." Auberon arched an eyebrow.

"Nah." Stephen dismissed the possibility as he received the bag. "Jus' some ol' chest. Collector's stuff, mos' likely."

"If you say so."

"Speakin' o' which, could I make use o' yer back-door?" Stephen hoped that he looked innocent enough as he handed over a galleon and four sickles, really, way too expensive for someone like him, but somehow, he always managed to pay.

"Still avoiding the goblins?" Auberon asked, amused.

"Well, ye jus' can't trust 'em ta forgive an' forget." Stephen wasn't as amused, still feeling the sores in his backside from a particularly lucky goblin's dagger.

"I'll just call Lilya to show you out, then." Stephen closed the register and moved towards the back of the shop where a staircase and a door were side-by-side. Approaching the staircase, Stephen yelled up it. "Lilya! Come down and say hello to Stephen!"

There was sounds of someone putting down something heavy before small footsteps made their way down the stairs. Soon a petite girl showed up in the bend of the stairs, her veela heritage, like most veela children, not very obvious unless you looked for it. Still, if you looked, your could almost mistake her for a full-veela, rather than the two-thirds veela that her family's genetic situation put her in.

Her grey eyes shone when she spotted Stephen. "You're back!"

"Well, I had some business ta take care o'," Stephen answered gruffly as Lilya launched herself at him in a large hug.

"Guess what!" Lilya prompted excitedly.

"What?" Stephen humoured her, Auberon noted with some amusement how much of Stephen's lisp suddenly disappeared when among children.

"I turned eleven today and just got my Hogwarts Letter!" Lilya cheered. "I'm going to Hogwarts!"

"Congratulations!" Stephen cheered, looking suitably surprised. "I hope tha' you're a Hufflepuff like me."

"Or a Ravenclaw like her father," Auberon butted in.

"Jus' 'cause ye never did anything but read, doesn't mean that Lilya will," Stephen protested.

"But I like reading." Lilya frowned, puzzled. "I also like to make friends and would like to do whatever I want. Would it be terribly bad if I made Slytherin?"

Auberon didn't look like he wanted to answer that, but Stephen did.

"It would be hypocritical fo' me ta say so, after all, I make business with most o' 'em. They aren't all a bad lot, if questionable." Stephen grinned at her.

"Right," Auberon joined in diplomatically. "Ambition and cunning aren't inherently bad qualities, it's just that a few people from Slytherin went bad, or were forced to, that many believes so. I imagine that it doesn't help that the other houses treats Slytherin as a House of Evil."

"Like self-fulfilling pro-prophecy?" Lilya looked in askance at them, unsure if it was the right word.

"Right! Tha's why ye shouldn't worry too much 'bout these things!" Stephen said resolutely.

They were interrupted by the bell in the door, and Auberon went back to the register. Stephen then looked at Lilya. "Well, could ye show me the back-door?"

"Of course!" Lilya hurried to the door beside the staircase and opened it, the enchanted lock unlocking for her. "This way!"

Following her at a more sedate pace, Stephen couldn't help but to wonder about the contrasts between the front of the shop and the back of the shop. The back was filled with what could only be described as a mad alchemist's laboratory of bubbling and smoking glass vials and containers. Unlike the refined scents of the shop, a noxious smell clung to the wooden furniture, evidence that whatever was cooking here hadn't quite passed the tests to be sold.

Stephen marvelled that Lilya didn't trip over herself as the smell made him light-headed and clumsy, but he guessed that it was the veela-blood in her.

Where the farthest wall meet the right wall an old, circular door was without handle or lock. Instead a grotesque double-headed gargoyle (with one head on each side of the door), guarded it.

"Charnockite, wake up!" Lilya prodded the gargoyle until its glowing, red eyes opened. "Open the door!"

Charnockite looked over the girl and to Stephen. "Out to buy questionables again?"

"Maybe," was all Stephen answered. He had never liked the gargoyle very much.

Charnockite gave him a fanged snarl before swinging the door outwards. The feelings were mutual. Before either of them had time to react, Lilya scurried out into the dark Knockturn Alley.

"Lilya, wait!" Stephen hurried after her.

"Little Lady!" Charnockite's other head protested.

"Chained Crier!" they heard her greet and they relaxed somewhat. The depressed old ghost with the chains would hardly let anything happen to Lilya.

The Chained Crier, no one really knew his real name or identity, was an old man dressed in tenth or eleventh century clothing. Rumours had that he'd been in love with a woman who broke his heart and that he tried to impress her by robbing Gringotts Wizarding Bank, however he was caught by the goblins who chained him in Knockturn Alley and let him starve to death, a grim reminder to all who passed.

Mostly the people who walked by him were annoyed with his crying and sometimes threw ineffectual hexes at him, but since he was chained just by the Sensory's back-door, Lilya had met him and always tried to befriend him.

It didn't help that he stopped updating his vocabulary after Shakespearean, rendering Lilya quite unable to understand most of what he said.

"Alas! Her doe eyes held the light of the stars, ev'n as she forbode my presence!" The Chained Crier burst in tears again.

Lilya only smiled uncertainly.

"Right, right, 'er loss, or win, now Lilya, how 'bout goin' home now?" Stephen herded Lilya back towards the door.

"But he's crying," Lilya protested.

"He always does," Stephen agreed. "Nothin' ye can do now."

Lilya looked like she was about to protest again, but instead she stomped off into the lab and Stephen sighed in relief as Charnockite hurriedly shut the door. Stephen _really_ didn't want Lilya to traipse around Knockturn Alley. Not since veela hair started to go up the market. Then with a deceptively cheerful whistling tune, he walked deeper into the alley. Towards the shop known as the _Apocrypt_. An auction would soon be under way and he didn't want to be late.

~*~

Lilya was annoyed with grown-ups. From how her dad had tried to gloss over the Slytherin issues to how Stephen had decided that there was nothing one could do to the Chained Crier. Didn't they realise that the only reason why nothing could be done was because they never tried?! Didn't her family always tell her that you had to try to get anything? But no, not when it came to "hopeless" cases such as Slytherins and the Chained Crier.

Her eyes shone strangely and Charnockite uneasily enquired about her well-being. Lilya ignored him because she just had a brilliant idea! She would end unhealthy house rivalry in Hogwarts! She then promptly sneezed, the fumes of failed oils finally getting to her.

With her mind made up, she hurried towards the front of the shop and towards the entrance.

"Where are you going?" Lorelei asked as the bell sounded when Lilya opened the door.

"To Florean's," Lilya answered.

"Just don't eat too much," Lorelei advised but Lilya already left.

The walk to _Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour_ was very short, owing to it being situated at the right side of the Sensory. Lunch had just been finished and it wasn't many people left in the parlour.

Stalking up to the ice cream bar, Lilya ordered with exaggerated weariness, "One Swan Special, please."

The smiling man known as Florean Fortescue went to work, wand waving over the scoops, ice creams and toppings. "Coming right up!"

"Good, I need it." Lilya sat down on a barstool.

"May I enquire why?" Florean asked as a pool of caramel and chocolate sauce filled a bowl.

"I just made my life complicated," Lilya started as swans of vanilla ice cream flew to land in the sauce-bowl. "You know how there's this really bad house rivalry at Hogwarts? Well, I've decided to stop it."

"Really?" Florean lifted up the bowl as sprinkles rained down on it. Picking out a spoon, he gave it to Lilya. "That'll be five knuts."

Lilya handed the bronze coins to him. "I figured that if no one else is doing it, I will."

Florean looked troubled. "Do you remember when you went to muggle school?"

"Yes, I was bullied." Lilya frowned, but she then brightened up. "But that's just because I never could let anyone visit my home. I wont have that problem in Hogwarts."

Florean sighed. "Why do you think it was such a big deal to visit your home?"

"Because we visited everyone else?" Lilya already had a vague idea.

"In a way, yes. But it really wasn't about homes. It was about fitting in with their image of you."

"Like how Daniel had to laugh even when he was sad because he was the class clown? We already went through labels during an anti-bullying course," Lilya informed him, beheading a swan so that it couldn't escape her spoon.

"Yes and no." Florean waved his wand and one of the barstools appeared at his side of the bar so that he could sit down. "Labels sometimes exist even when no one knows they do. Your classmates labelled you a muggle, but you're a witch and therefore couldn't live up to the label. So when you deviated from being a muggle, like when you couldn't bring friends home, they picked up on it."

"They _did_ call me a freak." Lilya nodded slowly, not noticing Florean's stricken look. "But all that's over with when I start Hogwarts."

Florean sighed. "Not really. There will just be a different label. There'll be Ravenclaws, Slytherins, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. There'll be nerds, athletes, airheads and bullies. Anyone who sticks out, and goes against the status quo, will be picked up on."

"And picked on," Lilya finished his thought. "So you're saying that I'll be bullied if I try to end the house rivalry?"

"No, I'm not saying that. It's just a possibility."

"But by that logic, Slytherins must become evil or they'll be bullied?" Lilya innocently asked.

Florean sighed again. "You know, you could be a pretty good politician when you grow up."

"Why?"

"Because you always find a counterargument." Florean took her empty bowl, magically cleaned it and put it away.

"But I don't like politics," Lilya countered.

"Proving my point." Florean then sobered. "Just, if you're serious about this house rivalry thing, at least be careful of where you go with it. Many things can go wrong if you don't think before you speak."

"Well, duh!" Lilya always knew that one should think before they spoke, even if she didn't always practice it. "Thanks for the ice cream."

"You paid for it," Florean said as she got up and left.

But Lilya didn't bother answering, as she walked deep in thought (and nearly walked over a house elf). She was now more sure than ever about ending house rivalry, but she had to figure out how.

**.end**


	2. Chapter II

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and related stuff belongs to JK Rowling, WB and other millionaires/billionaires. Whatever you don't recognise is mine._

**The Enchanted Room**

**Chapter II**

**Wands Works**

If you looked through the large, circular window of _Moon's Sensory_'s attic, you'd see a circular bed covered in thin, translucent fabrics to protect against bugs in the summer. You would have entered the bedroom of Lilya, and it seemed like her parents had taken circles in excess when furnishing her room. The desk was a half-circle against one wall, while the wardrobe, also round, was half-built into the wall. There was a circular carpet, a circular mirror, even the trapdoor leading down to the apartment was circular.

Still, Lilya liked her circular room, especially the curve of the wall around her bed, as it made it almost look custom made, and if you didn't frequent muggle furniture stores, you would believe it was.

It was also really, really soft, and Lilya didn't really want to open her eyes as she heard scratching on the window.

With a vague mumble, she turned around, away from the morning light, and tried to fall asleep again.

The scratching took on a near desperate frequency.

Lilya blinked sleepily and slowly dragged herself into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes. She then turned towards the window.

And leapt into action as she saw a tiny owl with a large package frantically try to stay in the air, tiny wings almost buzzing with the frequency of its flaps.

Undoing the clasps that kept the window in place, Lilya let the owl come inside, where it collapsed on her own owl's circular cage, breathing like it had been drowning.

"Birdy?" Lilya greeted Stephen's pearl-spotted owlet.

Birdy chirped hoarsely and Lilya hurried to give him water before she started untying the ropes that held the package. Birdy seemed relieved to get rid of the weight and settled down to rest.

Meanwhile, Lilya removed the brown paper only to find a book and a letter. Picking up the letter, she started reading it.

_Dear Lilya,_

_Happy late birthday!_

_As you can see, business went well and I took my new treasures to_

_Cornwall to sell. Unfortunately, no one wants a ciphered book, even if it's_

_about Hogwarts, without the key to the cipher. So I thought to myself,_

_maybe the key is at Hogwarts, and who do I know is going to Hogwarts?_

_Yeah, so I might have handed a treasure to you._

_The book's author, Sebastian Scrivener, was the official historian of_

_Hogwarts at the founding. But really, that's all I could find out about_

_the book._

_Good luck with deciphering,_

_Stephen_

_PS. Could you ask your mother what to do when one is_

_besieged by Cornish pixies?_

Lilya picked up the book to look at it. It was very old and leather bound with metal-enforced corners in the covers. Emblazoned in gold and silver thread on the front, it said _Hogwarts_ above the Hogwarts crest, and at the bottom, _Sebastian Scrivener_. Opening it, the four crests of the houses were shown on a yellowed page, but as Lilya turned the page further, she saw what Stephen had meant with cipher. It looked almost like a mixture of Arabic and Ancient Chinese, except it very obviously wasn't. It was too swirly, like floral cursive, and the one word Lilya managed to make out among the swirls, _ā__b__æ__ran_, didn't exactly help.

It was almost as if the book were partially translated, as she could see several other places where Roman letters emerged from the swirls, but it held no rhyme or reason as to where these legible words appeared.

Judging from the age of the book, as well as the Latin words, it should have been in Latin, but Lilya was pretty sure that it wasn't Latin.

She was so engrossed in the book that when a snowy owl came through the window, she screamed in fright and fell off the bed.

Once realising that it was just her owl, Lilya hurriedly got up to make sure the book was okay. Except some scuff marks on the metal, Lilya couldn't find anything else wrong with it. Once certain of this, she turned towards the snowy owl that was eyeing Birdy with distrust.

"Artemis!" The owl looked up, and despite his name, he was male. "How many times have I told you not to scare me like that?"

Artemis decided to ignore her and Birdy in favour of rustling his feathers. Lilya was clearly out of her mind if she believed that owls could count. With a grumble, Lilya put down the book on her desk and went to her wardrobe to get dressed.

Flipping through her clothes by spinning the mechanism within the wardrobe, Lilya felt her mood lighten. Today was the day she would finally get a wand! She giggled to herself and both owls looked somewhat disturbed.

"Oh, get out of here!" Lilya shooed them with a hand wave and both owls flew out the window, Birdy, presumably to return to Stephen and Artemis to flirt with that female snowy owl at _Eeylops Owl Emporium_. Lilya didn't really care as she switched her white nightgown for a pale blue dress, she then went to work with the tangled magpie's nest that was her hair.

"It's going to be _so_ much easier when you can just spell it into place," her enchanted mirror-image said.

Lilya nodded in agreement, putting down the brush and using a silver ribbon to secure a ponytail at the back of her neck. She preferred braids, but didn't have the patience. Taking both book and letter, she opened the trapdoor, a magical staircase folding out in front of her, and walked downstairs.

The apartment above _Moon's Sensory_ had been enchanted for extra space. It held a large master bedroom with a fireplace, two bathrooms, one spacious kitchen, a dining room, also with a fireplace, a guest room, a living room with the last fireplace and a small office, which had been Lilya's nursery until they rebuilt the attic.

"You're up early," the portrait of one of Lilya's many veela ancestors remarked.

"I'm getting a wand today!" Lilya excitedly explained.

"From Ollivander's, I presume?" The portrait gave an unusually attractive sneer. "The crazy old coot never _did_ know the best wand cores."

"You're still sore about that?" Lilya couldn't believe it, this particular veela died sometime around year 500, to still carry a grudge was just insane.

"I'm just saying that if he knew his wand cores from his braces, then maybe he wouldn't need to limit himself to the three staples." The veela then leaned forward, against the silver frame. "For you, with all your veela blood, I would recommend veela hair, if that's not available fairy wings and siren scales should work very well."

Lilya smiled nervously, well aware that her great-great-great-something-grandmother just wanted to help. "I think I go with Ollivander's this once. After all, those three are the staples because they're stable and easy to use. Perfect for a beginning witch like me!"

"If you say so." The portrait wasn't amused and Lilya hurried past her into the kitchen.

The kitchen was aglow with morning sunlight, bouncing off the maple countertops and just brightening the entire area. In the middle of the circle of white cabinets, Lorelei and Auberon were cooking breakfast while a portrait of a French chef, yet another ancestor, pointed out just everything they did wrong.

"You're awake?" Lorelei was the first one to notice Lilya.

"Yes, what's for breakfast?" Lilya asked.

"Pancakes." Lorelei smiled as Lilya went to work, pulling out maple syrup, honey, ice cream, chocolate sauce and everything else she liked on her pancakes, putting them on the kitchen table. The portrait of the chef instantly went into a ranting mode about desecrating his crêpe recipe (which, by the way, had been in the family for two-hundred years!).

"Put a sock in it!" A painting of a noble lady snapped at him. "All you ever do is complain and complain, but when I hung in your restaurant I noticed quite a few come down with food poisoning."

"Food poisoning? My restaurant?!" The chef seemed aghast at the thought.

"Why so surprised? She always bring that up when you complain," another painting, this one of a fox hunter atop a winged horse, joined in.

The air buzzed above the family's heads as all seven paintings, bar one of a fruit bowl, restarted their old argument. Like always, Lorelei and Auberon ignored them, favouring to let paintings settle their own affairs, while Lilya egged the chef on by pouring a large amount of syrup and chocolate on her pancakes. Lilya then motioned towards the book and letter she left on a counter.

"I got a gift from Stephen this morning." It was a house rule that everything possibly magical that Lilya got her hands on, would be looked at by her parents to see if it could be harmful.

"I'll check it out while you and your mother goes shopping," Auberon offered, because it was Sunday and they wouldn't open until twelve.

"Thanks, dad."

"We wont just shop for a wand, you know," Lorelei warned Lilya. "There isn't many times we can afford to leave the shop, so we'll shop for everything on your list today."

"Really?" Lilya was disappointed, she had hoped to get home to try to cast spells with her new wand as soon as possible. Sure, there were laws about underage magic, but it was unenforceable in a magical community such as Diagon Alley, as everyone used magic all the time, since the tracing isn't very specific.

"We also must stop by Gringotts to take out some money." Lorelei started to grow excited. She was usually so busy with the shop that shopping wasn't often part of her agenda, unless it was for necessities. "When we're at it, we should stop by Twilfitt and Tatting's. I heard that they have a divine autumn collection this year."

Lorelei then looked at the cuckoo clock, that, if you'd forgotten a meeting or something, would remind you instead of cuckooing. "Oh dear, it's already nine! We should get going!"

Auberon, who was reading the _Daily Prophet_, was suitably perplexed when he put an empty fork in his mouth as Lorelei waves her wand around, cleaning up the dishes. "Um, dear?"

Lorelei was already herding Lilya out the door. "We might be an hour late or so, just keep the shop in one piece until I get back!"

Before Lilya knew it, she was outside the shop, hearing as people moved about to open. Straight across the street, however, rose the large building known as _Gringotts Wizarding Bank_, which never closed and always had a pair of grumpy goblins as porters at each side of the entrance. She then hurried to keep up with her mother's long strides.

Inside there weren't many customers and they were seen at once by one of the goblins.

"I would like to make a withdrawal from the Moon family vault," Lorelei informed.

"The key?" the goblin prompted.

An ancient gold key appeared from Lorelei's sleeves that she handed the goblin.

The goblin flipped through an old book, and finding everything satisfactory, he turned and yelled towards one of the goblins loitering in a corner, "Bogrod, take these two ladies to vault 1374!"

"Aye, aye, sir." Bogrod hurried up to Lorelei and Lilya. "This way, please."

Bogrod led them to one of the carts lined up on the tracks, Lilya, who knew what was coming, was smiling excitedly. Lorelei, however, didn't seem as eager.

"Remember to keep yer limbs inside the cart at all times." The toothy smile he gave them suggested that he wouldn't be too upset if they didn't heed his warning.

And off they went, into the deepest bowels of the earth. Lilya amused herself by trying to count the magical guardians they passed while her mother looked straight forward. Unfortunately for Lilya, she only saw a sphinx and _maybe_ a dragon's flame, which could just as well have been a chimera.

"Lets see, 1374, here we are." The cart slowed to a complete stop, and as Lilya got off the cart, she could see the tail of a sphinx patrolling a corridor further down the tracks.

The Moon family vault had massive security measures built into it. Not only were it amongst the lowest levels of the underground, but it also had three different doors. The first one was a puzzle of some sort, as a carving of the great Yggdrasil tree was upon it. Bogrod tickled its many roots before pulling at one of the many branches, causing the tree-door to part, revealing a veil of veela hair. Now this door was unique to the Moon vault, a security measure that only someone with veela blood could resist, and as Bogrod covered his eyes, Lorelei stepped forward to move the entrancing veil aside. Last was a door that needed the touch of a Gringotts goblin, which melted away the door.

And thus the considerable fortune amassed by many generations was revealed. There wasn't just gold and silver, but also artwork and sculptures and goblets and many other things. The Moon family didn't just keep to the United Kingdom, but also held many roots in the continent as well, and thus had many opportunities to collect more.

Lorelei filled her purse with gold and silver coins, ignoring the bronze knuts. She then turned to leave, only now noticing the abnormal interest Lilya had for the corridor at the end of the tracks. "Lilya, we're leaving."

"But-"

"We're _leaving_." Lorelei frowned at Lilya, and Lilya shuffled back into the cart. Lorelei then threw a glance at Bogrod, who was putting back the security measures, of course, even if he noticed if Lilya wandered away to befriend some dragon, Lorelei doubted that he would stop or even warn her. _Goblins!_

~*~

Lorelei didn't ease up until they came out into the sunlight again, knowing all too well that if her daughter got an idea, then she would want to go through with it. Now, Lorelei was confident that Lilya would turn around and try to go down into the underground again, but just to make sure...

"How about we look at wands first?"

"Yes!" Lilya hurried towards Ollivander's before her mother could change her mind.

Lorelei shook her head as she followed at a more sedate pace. Lilya really had to learn the meaning of patience. But Lilya currently wasn't interested in learning words as she had arrived at _Ollivander's Wand Shop_.

Coming in from the bright summer sun outside, it took Lilya's eyes several seconds to adjust to the dusky interiors of the old shop. When they did, she saw Ollivander searching through the shelves of oblong boxes, while a witch was fussing over her son's hair.

The boy seemed to be in Lilya's age, and not at all happy with his mother's administrations.

"Mum, stop it!" the boy grumbled and swatted after her hands.

"But your hair is standing up at your neck," the mother protested and smoothed said hair.

"I don't care!"

"But it looks messy."

By now, the boy noticed Lilya, and it seemed to make things worse as he flushed and turned towards his mother with an angry expression. "Stop it!"

Lilya decided to cut in before things got even more awkward. "Hi! I'm Lilya Moon, are you here to get a wand too?"

The mother now noticed her and smiled at her. "Yes we are, aren't we, Terry?"

Terry mumbled something and unconsciously stepped closer to his mum. This seemed to amuse the older witch to no end. "Shouldn't you introduce yourself, Terry?"

"Terry Boot," Terry said in a clipped voice and Lilya smiled encouragingly at him.

"Aren't you excited? I know I've waited for ages to get a wand!" Lilya approached him, causing him to edge around his mother.

"Mhmm," Terry mumbled as he realised that she expected an answer.

"I think it's silly that we have to wait so long until we get a wand."

"Mm."

"I mean, it would be nice to be able to cast _Lumos_ at night now and then when reading," Lilya continued, not at all deterred by his non-answers.

They were interrupted as Ollivander came with a box and Lorelei entered the shop. As always, Lorelei's presence made the boy and man gape, though for Ollivander, it only lasted for a few seconds.

"You shouldn't run away like that," Lorelei chastised Lilya.

"Try this one, birch with dragon heartstring, ten inches." Ollivander opened the box and held it out to Terry. Terry was still staring at Lorelei. "Hey, boy!"

Terry blinked, and turned red again. Embarrassed, he stared at the floor as he picked up the wand. Nothing happened.

"Hm, not birch, then." Ollivander snatched the wand from Terry, put it back into the box, and left the box on his desk as he hurried back to the shelves. "But I'm sure about the heartstring."

Terry's mum, meanwhile, introduced herself to Lorelei. "Nice to meet you, I'm Rachel Boot, Terry's mother."

Lorelei shook her hand. "I'm Lorelei Moon, Lilya's mother. Is Terry going to Hogwarts this autumn as well?" The last part was addressed to Terry.

Terry's face, if possible, became even more red and he stuttered before he managed to answer with a squeaky voice. "Y-Yes."

"Really?" Lilya suddenly appeared at his side, making him jump. "What house do you hope to get into?"

Terry looked as if he wished the floor would swallow him whole. "R-Raven-c-claw."

"So your a nice and smart student?" Lorelei brightly answered. She then turned towards a very amused Rachel. "Maybe we should set them up for a date, my daughter certainly needs the influence of a steady mind."

"Mum!" Lilya protested, all annoyed and not at all embarrassed, unlike Terry, who lost his voice.

"Maybe we should. He certainly could benefit from a vibrant girl," Rachel answered.

The mothers looked at the other in concord, united by their light teasing of their children (but they're _so_ cute when they're flustered!). Even so, they decided to leave the kids alone as they launched into a discussion about Madam Puddifoot's guest column in the _Daily Prophet_.

Ollivander then showed up with yet another wand. "This one should do it. Mahogany, dragon heartstring, ten and a half inches."

Mutely, Terry picked up the wand and tried to ignore Lilya's expectant gaze. Suddenly he didn't have to ignore her anymore, as his attention became riveted in the sparks and fireworks that erupted at the end of the wand's tip.

"I thought so." Ollivander nodded. "You're perfect for dragon heartstrings."

He then turned towards Rachel. "That be seventeen galleons in total."

Rachel and Terry paid and left, but not before Lorelei managed to invite them for tea later that day. Ollivander then turned towards Lilya.

"And here's Lilura Moon. I've been expecting you."

"I want the best wand you have!" Lilya immediately said.

"We'll see," Ollivander answered and the magical measuring tapes started to measure her.

Lilya paid no attention to the tapes, instead she greedily watched as Ollivander put back the boxes from Terry's consultation and started to take out boxes for her. Soon he had a small pile of boxes in his arms that he carried to her.

Picking out one box, he opened it and held it out to her. "Elm, phoenix feather, nine inches."

Lilya's hand shook in anticipation as she picked it up, only to be disappointed as nothing happened. Ollivander paid it no mind and replaced the wand with another. "Oak, nine and a quarter inches, dragon heartstring."

Once more, nothing, and Ollivander nodded to himself before he sorted the boxes into two piles, and picked a box from one of them. "Yew, unicorn tail hair, ten inches."

Nothing.

"Rosewood, unicorn tail hair, ten and a half inches."

Nothing.

"We're getting close. Hazel, unicorn mane hair, eleven inches."

Nothing, but the wand felt warmer to hold than the others. Lilya wondered how long it would take as Ollivander had her try the pile of unicorn wand boxes, only to come up with nothing and then return to the shelves to get some more and put back the other pile.

Despite her chastisement of Lilya, Lorelei was also starting to feel restless and had started to browse through the different wand-making tools on display.

"Holly, unicorn mane hair, twelve inches."

This time, the wand seemed to vibrate in her hand, and realisation dawned on Ollivander and he looked through the boxes before he picked out one. Opening it, a white wooded wand came into view. "Willow, unicorn forelock, eleven and a half inches."

A cascade of silvery sparks washed down Lilya's arm as she swung around the wand.

"A light and flexible wand. Good for charm-work and transfiguration," Ollivander informed her as she watched the wand with big eyes. "A mean mare gave me that forelock while impaling me to a tree with her horn."

He then turned towards Lorelei. "That'll be fifty galleons."

Lorelei's breathing skipped a breath. "That's an outrageous price!"

"Ten galleons a hair, plus wood and work." Ollivander shrugged.

Lorelei looked at Lilya, who couldn't wipe her silly smile off her face as she made the wand sparkle time and time again. "Fine. But it's still an outrageous price."

"Pleasure doing business with you." Ollivander grinned, taking the gold coins and then coaxed Lilya to relinquish the wand so that he could wrap it in its box.

Lilya accepted the box with reverence, and then hurried after her mother out of the shop. Ollivander watched her go with a glimmer in his eye before he started to put back the boxes. _That girl wont stop until she wins, no matter how many times she fails._

**.end**


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